


he was here, and then he wasn't

by whouffaldiinabox



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Clara meets Eleven's family, Eleven is adopted into a Scottish family, F/F, F/M, Older Man/Younger Woman, Other, Sibling Rivalry, Thirteen is the outcast sister, Twelve and Eleven are brothers, and drama ensues, whouffaldi, whouffle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-05 04:05:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11569971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whouffaldiinabox/pseuds/whouffaldiinabox
Summary: Clara Oswald has been in a committed, serious relationship until she’s introduced to her boyfriend’s family… And she can’t take her eyes off of his eldest brother...





	1. Chapter 1

‘Aren’t you at least a little bit worried about introducing me to your family?’

Her boyfriend frowns at her from across the kitchen table, ‘Should I be?’

She clears her throat and shifts uncomfortably on her seat, ‘I guess not…’ she tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear and she can feel his stare burning right through her, ‘It’s the first time I’m meeting a boyfriend or girlfriend’s parents, I’m a bit nervous.’

He shrugs, ‘That’s normal. But honestly, Clara, there’s nothing to worry about.’

Clara’s boyfriend is a lanky, for lack of a better word, goofball. 

He has emerald eyes, two perfectly deep dimples on each of his cheeks, light stubble around his chin and his hair is her favourite thing. Its floppy, to say the least and it’s always in his eyes, but she doesn’t mind, she finds it cute. They met three years ago, he’d knocked on her door insisting that he knew her, but it was just a way for him to talk to her. When she worked as a nanny for the Maitland family, he happened to be a friend of the family and insisted on getting her number no matter what. Creepy, if you asked her, but he was slightly like an autistic puppy and she couldn’t resist falling for him and now here they were, three years into their relationship and they were preparing themselves to meet his family. He’s adopted, she knows that much and he’s the youngest. Clara knows of his family, she’s just never met them.

‘I’d tell you not to talk to my cousin Vastra, but she’ll talk to you anyway, she’s a little handsy so watch out for that,’ he points at her, as if he is testing her loyalty.

Clara simply eyes him, fiddling with the multiple rings on her fingers, an annoying habit she’d picked up from her late mother, ‘I’ll be sure to watch out for that,’

She laughs and watches him straighten up, she’s so worried and anxious about everything she starts to worry that his family might not like their height difference. He towers over her and it’s unethical, it doesn’t make sense for them to be together. It’s ridiculous, she knows that, but when you’re in love with somebody you can’t ever picture losing them, and she can’t ever imagine losing John. She knows it would break her if his family chose not to like her, but she’ll hide it and tell him it’s all fine, everything is fine and he’ll kiss the top of her head and go about his day like everything is okay.

She doesn’t blame him, she’s a good liar.

‘Anything else I should know about? Any ex girlfriend’s that are going to come creeping out of the woodwork?’ enquires Clara, biting her bottom lip.

John smiles at her from across the kitchen counter, ‘You know full well you’re my first real girlfriend, Clara Oswald,’ he sighs, sending her one of his famous lopsided smile.  
John turns to open the fridge and pulls out a bowl of custard and she wonders just how long he’s had that in there for. John and his weird cravings sometimes put her on edge, but it only makes her love him more, all of his weird quirks and his funny bowties he always wears. Clara steps towards him, laying her head on his back and she just about reaches his shoulders. Her arms wind around him and she can’t feel more at home.

‘Wherever you are,’ she gasps, holding onto his skinny frame a little tighter, ‘I’ll always be.’

He leans back against her, his hand falling to hold onto hers.

\---

She meets them in a pub later that week.

It’s a little odd, if she’s honest, as she knows nothing about his family and they could all take her out the back and murder her.

But she trusts John, she’s never met anybody like him.

He squeezes Clara’s hand to comfort her and she inhales sharply.

They walk through right to the back of the pub and John whispers into her ear that the back of the pub is his father’s favourite place to sit.

When she sees them, her feet almost trip her up. What’s wrong with her? Get it together, Oswald.

Clara extends her hand to John’s mother, who’s a short and stocky lady, but very beautiful, ‘Hi, Mrs Smith. Sorry, I’m just a bit nervous… I’m not usually like this,’

She’s an older lady, Clara can tell, the many wrinkles on her face are a huge give away. She guesses she’s mid-sixties, and her eyes match her son’s. 

His mother shakes her hand, ‘Mary, darling, call me Mary,’ she speaks with a strong Scottish accent and Clara’s a little confused until she remembers John is adopted.

‘No need to be nervous, lass. We’re all friendly,’

‘I’m not,’ a voice booms from beside the older woman, accent just as thick. Clara thinks he’s being serious, until he laughs and stands up to pull her into a bear hug, ‘Ivan, nice to meet you at last!’

He’s a tall man, with an impressive beard and he looks a bit like a Scottish lumberjack. Clara can smell the alcohol on his breath and she grows a little worried when she realises it’s only three in the afternoon. John clearly hasn’t told her everything about his family.

Once he puts her down, Clara smiles and takes her seat next to John, feeling his arm slip protectively around her waist, ‘It’s lovely to finally meet you. Is this all there is?’

John’s father laughs, ‘No, no, lass. There’s more to come. Lots of Scots, aye,’ he laughs and slams his hand down onto the table, making Clara jump in return. He stands up, but it’s ignored by John and his mother and she watches him head towards the bar for another drink.

‘He’s… charming?’ Clara coughs, sitting up straight as her hands find the glass of her drink John places in front of her. She sits up with confidence, not allowing anybody to trample all over her.

That’s what her mother had told her as she grew up, always sit up straight and with confidence, do not let anybody walk all over you like you’re nothing and she never had.  
‘He’s an alcoholic,’ Mary tells her, laughing it off as if it’s nothing to worry about.

John’s eyes widen, his jaw opening and shutting before he can get his words out properly, ‘Mother!’

Mary sighs, ‘John, you know it’s true, but let’s not dwell on it, okay? Your brothers will be here soon,’

Clara shifts uncomfortably next to him and turns her head to stare at her boyfriend, ‘You didn’t tell me you had brothers,’

John blushes hard and dips his face into his pint of beer, ‘You’ll know why when they arrive,’

Half an hour later, the doors bust open and in stumble four different people. They’re all giants compared to Clara, which is great on her part, but the fourth man to walk through the door isn’t drunk at all – in fact, he just casually strolls in and places a kiss on Mary’s cheek and shakes the hand of Ivan. He sits next to the older woman and seems to only talk to her, not bothering to introduce himself and Clara can’t help but think how bloody rude he is. But, for some reason, she cannot take her eyes off of him. He’s an older man, and Mary must have had him incredibly young, because the strands of his hair are grey, or growing grey. She guesses he’s around forty years old, maybe even older and she works out in her head that Mary must have had him when she was eighteen. He is – god, he’s fucking gorgeous. 

Clara blushes hard and dips her face into her drink, drinking it faster than intended and she turns her head to introduce herself to the woman who’s just sat down next to her and all she can feel is the older man’s eyes burning into the back of her head.

John grins and nods to the woman who’s just sat beside his girlfriend, ‘Clara, love, this is Vastra, my cousin, the one I told you about,’ he laughs like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever said and Clara has to shift in her seat to get a better look of her.

She’s around the same age as them, her arms covered in interesting Tattoo’s, she thinks they’re Tattoos of different types of fish and lizards, but she isn’t too sure. Her hair is tied up into a tight pony tail, her jawline is sharp and defined and her eyes are a bright green.

‘Vastra, nice to meet you,’ the woman smirks, shaking Clara’s hand, ‘You’re as hot as John made you out to be.’

Clara laughs and watches the other woman closely, ‘Thank you, you’re not so bad yourself,’ she goes along with it, not too worried about John’s reaction.

They both turn to him, and his jaw is hanging open. Clara grins and makes an attempt to shut it for him, kissing his cheek and mumbling about how cute he is. 

A woman to Vastra’s left, sat next to Mary slaps her hard on her arm, hissing at her, ‘Oi, girlfriend!’ she protests, her accent heavy with that of London.

Vastra smirks and leans back in her chair, her hand on her girlfriend’s knee, ‘Jenny, calm down dear, I only have eyes for you.’

Jenny glares at her, ‘If only that were true,’ she sighs, but Clara can tell they’re only teasing each other.

Another man sits on the other side of John and pretty much throws himself across his youngest brother, holding his hand out, ‘Strax, nice to meet you!’ he practically yells in her face and it takes her a while to shake his hand.

‘Clara Oswald, nice to meet you too,’ she giggles, immediately taking a liking to this stocky man with nearly all his hair missing, he looks like the complete opposite of Ivan, and she begins to wonder if they’re all adopted.

Strax isn’t tall at all, he’s tiny, and she remembers at her first glance she hadn’t really looked at him at all and made the mistake of thinking he was as huge as the rest of John’s family. His ears are pinned to his head and he has a weird way of interacting with people, as if he is something of a different species, an alien…

As the noise dies down, Clara turns to look in front of her at the gorgeous older man from earlier and she thinks in her head that she really needs to stop calling him gorgeous. She inhales sharply, feeling a pang of annoyance that he still hasn’t introduced himself. He seems to be attempting to light a cigarette, and his curly grey hair flops over his face as he does so. He looks a lot like Ivan, the same lumberjack beard, the same curly, locks of hair but he’s dressed differently to them. He’s dressed in a leather jacket and leather pants, something she wasn’t really expecting John’s brother to be dressed in. Great, he’s already going through a mid-life crisis in his forties. 

‘And you are?’ she says quite loudly, her fingers gripping her glass so hard she’s frightened it’s about to smash.

He looks up from attempting to light his cigarette and smirks at her, an arrogant smirk she wants to smack right off his face, ‘The Doctor,’

Clara stifles a laugh and all of a sudden, she forgets she’s sat in a pub with John’s family, her boyfriend’s family, ‘I’m sorry, what?’

‘The Doctor,’ he repeats, his Scottish accent rumbling right through her, ‘My name is The Doctor… Or Doctor, whichever you prefer.’

She sighs and rolls her eyes, turning to look at John, ‘You’re clearly trying to wind me up, John. Really, what’s his name?’

John’s expression doesn’t change, he continues to stare blankly at her, ‘The Doctor. His name is The Doctor, I’ve always called him that,’

Clara blinks slowly and realises what a bitch she sounds. Of course it isn’t a fake name, they’ve already named their other son Strax.

‘Oh fuck,’ she breathes, and stares right at his elder brother, ‘I’m so sorry, I thought you were fucking with me,’

The Doctor shrugs his shoulders, his voice low as he puffs out four rings of smoke, ‘It’s not a problem,’ he simply tells her and the night rolls on.

\---

A few hours pass, and Clara’s fucking drunk.

John has to practically drag her from the pub, the two of them stumbling all about the place. He grips her forearms, trying not to trip himself from his own intake of alcohol.  
The only one who isn’t drunk, weirdly, is John’s eldest brother.

The Doctor steps forward, swings his arm over John’s shoulders and hoists him in the other direction. Clara sighs with relief at the sudden weight gone from her shoulders but she miscalculates just how drunk she is and trips. When she opens her eyes again, she isn’t on the floor at all, she’s still on her feet, but somebody else has grabbed hold of her. The person who grabs her is a woman, she’s sure of that, but she can’t quite work out who it is. It isn’t John’s mother, she’s far too tall and she can’t smell any alcohol on her breath and Clara’s certain Mary had joined in on the drinking later on in the night. And, she can see her stumbling ahead in front of them, holding Ivan on her shoulders.

Was she the hulk? How was she walking with that lump of a man on her shoulders?

Clara blinks and turns her head to find a woman with short blonde hair, it’s cut into a bob and her eyes are a beautiful brown colour. Like when you drop milk into a cup of coffee and it takes a while to mix, yeah, that kind of colour. What the fuck was she on about? How much had she had to drink?

‘Somebody’s had a little too much to drink,’ the woman muses into her ear and her accent is Northern, like John’s. Where was John? Why wasn’t he worried about some random stranger dragging his girlfriend about?

Clara’s eyes close again until she’s blinded by a light, she knows she’s inside because she can feel the sudden warmth around her. Her coat is pulled from her shoulders and she feels herself sit down on the steps of a staircase, a marbel staircase. She can smell dog food, and cat food and a strong hint of air fresher. Definitely smelled like somebodies home. Had the weird, pretty Northern woman from earlier taken her home and nobody else had realised it?

Her questions were answered when she opened her eyes to a glass of water, held by John’s older brother, ‘What?’ whispers Clara, her eyes must have conveyed her confusion from the way The Doctor snorts at her and stands up straight.

He’s so damn tall it almost annoys her.

‘You shouldn’t drink with a Scotsmen if you’re a lightweight,’

Clara takes gulps of the water until it’s finished, ‘I am not a lightweight!’ she protests, standing up until she stumbles back down, her head spinning, ‘Okay, maybe I am a little bit of a lightweight. Where’s John?’

The Doctor smirks, an annoying smirk she wants to smack off his face. He hasn’t said a word to her all night, but she still wants to smack him, ‘John is upstairs. He collapsed head first onto his bed, ass up. Strax took a photo,’

Clara places the glass of water down, rubs at her eyes, ‘He shouldn’t drink. He’s like an autistic puppy, he’s worse than me.’

‘Like a fourteen year old boy,’ The Doctor finishes for her and the cup is whisked up into the air, too quick of a motion for Clara to concentrate on, ‘Do you want something to eat? You probably should before you go to bed. You aren’t as far gone as John.’

Clara ignores him but when he disappears into the kitchen, she gets up slowly, VERY, slowly and leans on the kitchen counter when she finds him grabbing a bag of bread out of the cupboard, ‘That woman…’

He freezes, his shoulders tense, ‘What woman?’

Clara rolls her eyes, biting her lip to stop herself from calling him an infuriating prick, ‘The woman who picked me up after you let me fall on the floor,’

The Doctor’s shoulders shake with laughter, ‘Admit it, midge, it was funny.’

‘Who…’ Clara stops mid sentence, her chin on the palm of her hand, eyebrows shooting up quite comically, ‘I’m sorry, what? Did you just call me midge?’

He laughs and moves down the kitchen, his back still facing her when he opens the fridge door and butters the toast he’s making her, ‘Yes, I did. And that woman was John’s sister. She isn’t part of our family, but she visit’s occasionally.’

Clara frowns and thanks him for the toast, losing her concentration on the conversation when she bites into the well buttered toast, ‘Hold on – John’s sister? What, is she not your sister as well?’

The Doctor grunts and shakes his head, turning back around to make more coffee, ‘Maybe you should ask your boyfriend about that,’ he tells her, finishing up with the coffee, ‘In the morning.’

Clara notices that he hasn’t made a cup of coffee for her and takes that as a hint to go to bed and leave him alone.

She’d ask John in the morning about his sister, she wasn’t about to let this one go.


	2. Meet the Parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clara wakes up the morning after a heavy night and tries to get to know John's family a little bit better...

‘Morning, sleepy head,’

Her voice is soft, and she tries not to make him jump. She watches him shift in his sleep and she can’t help the growing smile on her lips. He’s so cute, and she almost can’t take it. He groans from his spot on his bed, having stripped half naked and collapsed on his front the night before. Clara makes her way into John’s room, her bare feet sticking to his lament floor. His ears shoot up, hearing her move across towards him. She sits down by his side, places the cup of coffee down next to him and disappears. He doesn’t dare open his eyes again, just makes incoherent groans of her name. 

When she returns, he hears another glass being put down and opens his emerald eyes. He forces a smile, he doesn’t force it because he can’t smile at her, he forces it because his entire face hurts. John reaches for the cup and almost knocks it over, his muscles weak and aching from the night before. Clara sighs and rolls her eyes, clearly playfully to tease her boyfriend. Picking up the glass of water, she tips it towards John and helps him drink it until he’s done. She feels like his mother more than his girlfriend. 

‘Your mother has made us breakfast,’ Clara tells him, an amused smirk on her face as he groans louder and rolls over onto his side.

‘Can you bring mine up to me?’ John groans and Clara merely melts at the roughness of his voice and his messy dark hair.

Bed hair always looks good on him.

Clara pulls the sheets from him and pulls a face, ‘God, you stink. Have a shower and come down for breakfast. I’m not your mother,’

His hand sticks in the air, his finger wiggling at her, ‘You aren’t my mother. But my actual mother is downstairs. Would you mind calling her up, dear?’

‘No,’ Clara laughs, shaking her head at him. He’s unbelievable, but he’s cute, ‘She may be your mother but she isn’t your slave. You’re a grown man so get up, shower and come down stairs.’

All she can hear is his groaning and his feet padding across the floor when she leaves the room and seconds later, the shower turns on. Clara goes to make her way down the stairs, pulling her jumper further down to her knees when she realises just how cold it is in Scotland. Why hadn’t she packed something warmer?

‘Feeling a bit chilly?’ a Northern accent enquires, stood in the doorway of what’s obviously her bedroom.

Clara knows that voice, she recognises it. She turns around, very slowly and takes a look at the woman talking to her. Yup, it’s the woman from last night who’d picked her up, John’s sister, is standing right in front of her.

‘Just a little,’ Clara tells her and frowns, her brown eyes lingering on the woman’s face.

God dammit, were there any other attractive siblings of John’s about to pop up any time soon?

She’s tall, just as tall as John, but her blonde hair is cut into a bob and she’s wearing a long dark hoodie and nothing underneath but a pair of white knickers that are way too visible for Clara. Her smile isn’t as big or as goofy as John’s, it’s a small smile, but her white teeth are still perfectly on show. Her eyes are brown, she knows that much from last night, and there’s a sign of a dimple in her left cheek; the one that matches John’s. Her eyebrows are as thick as they’re supposed to be, which is odd, considering John doesn’t have a single eyebrow in sight.

‘Stella Smith,’ the woman announces and when she extends her hand to shake Clara’s, her hoodie rides up and Clara can’t help but openly stare at her bare skin, ‘I know, I’m quite the attractive woman, right? I get that quite a lot.’

Clara blushes and coughs, clearing her throat, ‘I wasn’t looking at you like that, I was just admiring your… abs,’ she lies terribly and she knows that Stella can tell she’s lying.

‘Nice to know my baby brother has good taste,’ she sighs, eying Clara as obvious as possible. She takes a few steps to the left and turns, moving down the staircase whilst her eyes are still stuck on Clara right until she’s at the bottom of the stairs.

Clara doesn’t move a muscle, but she jumps with a huge fright when she hears another voice from behind her, ‘Don’t mind her, boy, she’d sleep with anything!’ Strax yells, slapping her on the back as hard as his hand will let him.

Clara winces, holding onto her back as she glares at the back of his head, still confused as to how his ears are so easily pinned to his head. She snaps out of her thoughts, confused by all of John’s family members. They weren’t really a family, they were more like friends and that was something that unsettled Clara more than she’d like to admit…

 

\---

 

Once she’s done the steps and into the kitchen, she takes her seat next to Vastra who openly grins at her and nods to her breakfast.

Clara looks down and feels her stomach do a thousand different back flips in a very, very bad way.

Ivan peers at her from over his newspaper, an amused look on his face, ‘Lass, don’t eat it if you feel too sick. Not everybody can keep up with us Scots on a night out,’ his accent is thickly Scottish and it sends an unsettling shiver down her spine.

He’s hot, for an older man and she’s a terrible person for thinking it. What’s wrong with her?

Vastra nudges her with her shoulder, ‘Eat up, Clara. We’ve got a full day planned,’ she announces, places a kiss on Jenny’s cheek and the two of them disappear out into the back garden.

Clara frowns and raises her head to look at Stella, their eyes locking for a single moment she can’t quite tear them away until John stumbles into the room. His hair is a mess, dripping wet and tangled. He’s only wearing a single white towel around his waist and Clara bites her lip, she definitely has the best one of the Smith’s, that’s for sure. John stumbles towards her, barely acknowledging his sister is even sat there. His arm falls around Clara’s shoulders and he places a kiss on the very top of her head.

‘Sweet,’ muses Stella, her fingers slipping around her coffee cup, head tilting to the side as she observes them. 

John finally seems to acknowledge his sister and sticks out his tongue, something Clara has seen him do quite a lot with his usual childish behaviour, ‘Get a girlfriend, Stella.’

The tall woman stands from her seat at the table, plate in hand and still dressed in those ridiculously small knickers she makes her way over to the kitchen counter, ‘I might already have one.’

John laughs, it isn’t a horrible laugh, but more out of nervous curiosity, ‘Really, who might that be then?’

Stella steals a glance at Clara and shrugs her shoulders, ‘Who knows, you might have already met her,’ she smirks and Clara instantly feels herself blush. What was wrong with her?

Get it together, Oswald!

John laughs again, this time to end the conversation for good. There’s an icy tension in the air, and Clara begins to feel that Stella isn’t exactly welcome in their household and now she wants to know why. She figures that John isn’t the best person to ask, he’ll grow shy and blush and tell her not to worry about it like he always does. Ivan, he’ll be far too drunk already to tell her, Strax won’t have a clue what she’s talking about and Mary will burst into tears at the mere thought of her two youngest not getting along. So, she figures, the best person to ask would be The Doctor. With a huff of annoyance, Clara eats what she can of her full English breakfast without throwing up and hates the way John sits in front of her and doesn’t say a word about his family. Was she an outsider, did he not expect her to be a part of his family? Did she not deserve to know what had happened between himself and his sister?

She shakes her head and moves away to wash her plate up, much to Mary’s delight. Once she’s dressed, she wonders around the house and admires all of the family photos, she can’t do much else until Vastra and Jenny are ready for their planned ‘girls day out’ which she isn’t really used to, being an only child and not being interested in making friends. Clara stops when she spots a framed photo of Ivan, Mary and what seemed to be a very young Doctor, as he calls himself. Clara knows full well that isn’t his name, but she won’t push anybody on the matter. It’s a sweet photo, a typical family one and both Mary and Ivan look so young she can’t quite believe it’s them. It’s for sure The Doctor, she can tell by his overly curly hair and those attack eyebrows she finds herself fond of already. 

‘People don’t often stare at family photo’s when they visit, you know,’ a Scottish accent startles her and she whips her head around.

It’s him.

The Doctor.

Clara tucks a strand of her brown hair behind her ear and clears her throat, turning back to the framed photograph, arms crossed over her chest, ‘I’m curious about your family, that’s all.’

The Doctor moves to stand next to her, staring at the same photograph, ‘John isn’t exactly one for talking, is he? Always bottles up. He did that as a kid,’

Clara nods her head slowly, hoping that if she doesn’t reply, he’ll slip away and speak to somebody else. But he doesn’t, he just stands there and stares at the photo with her and suddenly her skin is full of goose bumps. She doesn’t know what’s happening, but there’s an undeniable force between them, one she’d never felt with John or anybody else. It isn’t sexual, she knows that much. He’s an attractive, older man that she’s certain knows exactly what to do with a woman but it isn’t that – it’s how close they’re standing together and neither of them move away, neither of them want to move away.

It’s the smell of his aftershave,

It’s the touch of his arm on hers, skin to skin,

It’s the sound of his shallow breathing, and suddenly it’s the best sound in the universe,

She swallows and inhales sharply, something that clearly alarms The Doctor and he snaps out of it, stepping away from her.

Clara clears her throat, doesn’t take another look at the photograph and disappears from The Doctor’s sight without saying a word.


End file.
